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PlainSpell

erect

/ɪˈɹɛkt/adjective, verb

erect is spelled E-R-E-C-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, erect means “Upright; vertical or reaching broadly upwards” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in erect?

Letters5: E-R-E-C-T
Syllables1
In writing3.3 times per million words; the 14,509th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is erect?

Erect appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce erect?

  • /ɪˈɹɛkt/

Erect has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-ca-erect.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with erect?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as erect.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: terce, recte.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of erect

  • more erect comparative
  • most erect superlative
  • erects present, singular, he/she/it
  • erecting participle, present
  • erected participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does erect mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Upright; vertical or reaching broadly upwards.

  2. 2

    Rigid, firm; standing out perpendicularly, especially as the result of stimulation.

    The penis should be fully erect before commencing copulation.

  3. 3

    Having an erect penis or clitoris.

    OK, baby, I'm erect now. Let's get it on!

  4. 4

    obsoleteBold; confident; free from depression; undismayed.

  5. 5

    obsoleteDirected upward; raised; uplifted.

  6. 6

    Watchful; alert.

  7. 7

    Elevated, as the tips of wings, heads of serpents, etc.

verb

  1. 1

    To put up by the fitting together of materials or parts.

    to erect a house or a fort

  2. 2

    To cause to stand up or out.

  3. 3

    To raise and place in an upright or perpendicular position; to set upright; to raise.

    to erect a pole, a flagstaff, a monument, etc.

  4. 4

    To spin up and align to vertical.

    As soon as electrical power was restored, the attitude indicators' gyros would have begun to erect.

  5. 5

    To lift up; to elevate; to exalt; to magnify.

    , Preface I, who am a party, am not to erect myself into a judge.

  6. 6

    To animate; to encourage; to cheer.

  7. 7

    To cast or draw up (a figure of the heavens, horoscope etc.).

  8. 8

    To enter a state of physiological erection.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Erect in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdressé, érigé (vertical in position), en érection (standing out perpendicularly)
Portugueseereto (vertical in position), erigir, erguer (to put up by the fitting together of materials…)
Spanisherecto (vertical in position), erguido, enhiesto (standing out perpendicularly), erigir (to put up by the fitting together of materials…), empalmado (having an erect penis), erguir (to cause to stand up or out)
Germanerigiert (standing out perpendicularly)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does erect come from?

From Middle English erect, a borrowing from Latin ērectus (“upright”), past participle of ērigō (“raise, set up”), from ē- (“out”) + regō (“to direct, keep straight, guide”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after erect